Kendall Hanna to retire from Central Pa. Food Bank

Kendall Hanna, executive director of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank since 1998, today announced his retirement effective June 30.

Hanna had served as a volunteer at the Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County-based food bank and on the board of directors prior to his tenure at the organization, according to a news release.

He will be succeeded by Associate Director Joe Arthur effective July 1.

Prior to working for the food bank, Hanna was executive vice president of Keystone Service Systems Inc. and also worked as an executive for Catholic Charities of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg. He also has helped several business start-ups, according to the release.

His accomplishments while with the food bank include:

• Establishing the region's first Kids Café program, providing nutritionally balanced evening meals to more than 2,000 children every school night at 37 locations.

• Beginning the area's Backpack Program, which gives backpacks full of vitamin-fortified food for children to about 3,000 students each Friday.

• Creating the ElderShare program, distributing a box each month of nutritious food to almost 5,000 seniors.

• Purchasing the food bank's second warehouse in Williamsport to facilitate food distribution in the northern section of the nonprofit's coverage area.

Hanna plans to stay in the area and continue to advocate for eradicating hunger through volunteerism, according to the food bank.

The food bank has 50 employees, about 2,500 volunteers and distributes more than $30 million worth of food and grocery items to more than 700 charitable organizations annually.